Rewriting Destiny
by Lady Dawson
Summary: Elena, in a desperate attempt to save her brother's life, goes to the past to prevent his death from Katherine and takes him away from Mystic Falls to so they can both have a normal life. But for a vampire-turned-human and her former vampire hunter little brother, things are rarely normal, especially in a town called Smallville.
1. Past and Future Collide

**Rewriting Destiny**

by Lady Dawson

Chapter One: Past and Future Collide

She felt as though she were being shoved through a very small, very tight tube, squeezed out by the magical force that had sent her here to begin with. There were lights all around her, pictures, images—_memories_ of her life before now, but she couldn't make them out; they were going by too fast. But all at once, they slowed to a stop and she spilled out onto the floor of a cave, one that she knew with every fiber of her being because she had spent every night thinking of nothing else, tormented by the memory of her brother's dying place.

Her breath quavering slightly, she scrambled to her feet, hearing voices coming from the cave and her heart leaped at the sound of her brother's voice. She couldn't believe it, she thought as she slipped into the shadows, hiding from view; she'd done it. Bonnie had actually done it. She'd managed to send her back.

Elena Gilbert swallowed as she watched her little brother Jeremy, the great longing to run to him and wrap him in her embrace and keep him safe from any harm almost too powerful to ignore, but she knew she had to. Unless she did this exactly right, then Jeremy was going to die again—and Armageddon would arrive.

Wetting her lips, Elena kept Jeremy and Bonnie Bennett—the past version—within her sight as she quietly followed them, keeping a close watch out for Katherine and her own past self, all the while fingering the small vial of blood that she kept in her back pocket for safekeeping. After Jeremy was saved, after she'd stopped the apocalypse, then she would take it. And then, they were getting out of here.

She was done with all of it, with vampires and witches and originals and all of them; she wanted to put as much distance between the supernatural and herself as possible. If she was honest with herself, she wanted it to be done long before now, even in this time period. Elena had never wanted to be a vampire; she should have known that it would only be a matter of time before she was turned. Dating a vampire kind of ensured that eventually, she would have to join the undead community.

And if she took the cure and continued with this love triangle with the Salvatore brothers—or even just one of them—Elena knew it would not be long before she became a vampire again. Only this time, there would be no cure to keep her restore her humanity. She'd be a vampire forever.

Although her heart wasn't technically beating, Elena could have sworn that she felt it increase its beat as she followed Jeremy and Bonnie into the cave that would take her brother's life tragically before it began.

It took all her will not to rush over to Bonnie as she watched her get stabbed by the hunter; the only thing that stopped her was reminding herself that her witch friend would be all right. She was still alive. Jeremy wouldn't be . . . unless she could stop it.

Elena took a deep, unsteady breath as Katherine appeared, snapping the hunter's neck under the guise of Elena. _Keep away from him,_ she thought as Katherine approached Jeremy, who was kneeling next to Bonnie, snapping at her to forget about the cure until she had healed Bonnie with her blood.

"I forgot how much of a brat you were," Katherine said irritably, catching Jeremy off guard and he slowly stood up, staring at her.

"And I forgot how much of a whore you were," Elena spoke up as she stepped out from the shadows, giving Katherine a look of pure loathing.

Spinning around, her vampire doppelganger ancestor gaped at her, stunned that she was here before her eyes narrowed slightly. Jeremy looked between Elena and Katherine, taking a step back away from them as Elena moved to stand in front of her brother, glancing back at Bonnie quickly before sending him a reassuring look.

"Don't worry; she'll be okay."

Jeremy met her eyes quickly before Elena turned to look back at Katherine, taking a defensive position. Katherine laughed.

"You really think that you can kill me, Elena? I'm older than you; that means that I'm stronger. One wrong move and I will tear your baby brother's heart out of his chest before you can even move a muscle."

"That's where you're wrong," Elena said flatly. "Besides, I'm pretty sure that Stefan and I are about to walk through here any second." Katherine looked confused. "Oh, by the way, you did knock me out, just for the record. I'm the Elena Gilbert from the future." Behind her, Jeremy stiffened slightly while Katherine gawked. "You know, stealing that cure just to bargain for your freedom from Elijah—I might be able to forgive you for that. But you killed my brother in my future," she added. "And that . . . well, Katherine, for that, you're going down."

For the first time, Katherine actually looked afraid as Elena charged at her, knocking her off the ground and the look-alikes fought ferociously against each other, both determined to destroy the other. Elena slammed Katherine into the wall, sending a vibration throughout the cavern, before she flipped her over and nearly took her head off, but Katherine forced her back, knocking her off her feet and was about to attack Jeremy.

Elena grabbed her leg, pulling her away from her brother, and grabbed her head, snapping her neck. Katherine went still and Elena slowly rose to her feet, looking back at Jeremy, who was wide eyed and speechless.

Before either of them could so much as utter a word, however, Elena glanced past her brother as she heard hurried footsteps coming from the cavern beyond and her own past self appeared, looking frantic as she reached Jeremy, holding him tightly against him before she stared first at the fallen body of Katherine Pierce before flickering to Elena, her expression shocked and confused.

And then Elena felt herself being pulled towards herself, colliding with the past version of herself. As the future changed, the past and future versions of herself were merged as one, uniting in one body with the memories of the now changed future.

Jeremy was standing next to her, his expression confused as Stefan Salvatore appeared, staring openly at Katherine before looking at Bonnie.

"What happened?" he asked as he rushed to the fallen witch, using his blood to heal her injuries from the hunter's attack.

"I'm not sure," Elena lied, sending a look at her brother that clearly said 'go along with the story, don't tell him.' Jeremy seemed to get the message, because his expression changed to shaken but perfectly okay. "I just came in here and she was unconscious. I'm not sure what happened."

Absently, she felt in her back pocket for the cure, relieved when she felt. At least it still remained there after the merge. Bonnie was worried that it might disappear when the future was altered, but apparently not.

Stefan looked perplexed, but moved towards Silas and the cure, which was locked in his unawakened hands. "Is that it?"

"Forget it," Elena said flatly as Jeremy was helping Bonnie to her feet. "We're not risking the fate of the world on my account."

"But—"

"Stefan," Elena interrupted him before he could say anything, "I said leave it. No one—not me, not Rebekah, not anyone is worth destroying the world. Not to cure only one person. Maybe what Kol said about Silas was a lie, maybe it was true, but we don't know that. Now let's get out of here before anyone else finds this place." She pushed Jeremy and Bonnie towards the exit.

"Elena—"

"I said no, Stefan."

"So we came all this way for nothing?" the younger Salvatore brother said, sounding exasperated.

"No," Elena murmured with a slight smile, her gaze on her brother. "Not for nothing."

Leaving him behind to stare at her in confusion, thoroughly wondering at her behavior, Elena led Jeremy and Bonnie out of the cave and into the sunlight, knowing that once they got home, she was going to have to explain things in full to her little brother. That was okay, though; so long as he was safe, she could get through anything.

* * *

"So . . . what exactly happened?"

Elena sighed as she joined her brother on the bed, resisting the urge to wrap him up in a tight hug. "It's a long story," she confessed.

Jeremy looked at her. "I think we've got the time," he said quietly. "Lena, come on, what exactly happened in that cave? And what was that stuff you were saying about being from the future? And . . ."

"Okay, okay, Jer, just calm down," Elena sighed, running a hand through her hair as she shifted her position to look at him directly. "Okay, first thing that you need to know is that yeah, I did come from the future. Bonnie cast a spell to send me back."

"Why?"

"It was the only way."

Looking anxious, Jeremy folded his arms across his chest, his brown gaze meeting hers. "Tell me," he said, leaving no room for argument. Elena nodded briefly, though she wasn't sure where to start. "Lena?"

"Look, before I start telling you, none of this is going to make any sense," Elena explained. "I have to explain what happened before I came back, so you need to bear with me while I explain all this, all right?"

Jeremy met her gaze, searching hers intently, before he gave a small nod, gesturing for her to continue.

"Okay," Elena murmured. "When we went to that cave, I was knocked out by Katherine, who impersonated me until you and Bonnie found the cure. She used your blood to wake up Silas, but he couldn't stop drinking. He drained you of your blood and snapped your neck. That's how I found you, Jer," she whispered, remembering the pain of seeing her brother's body in that cave. "He killed you and . . . that's pretty much what sent me in my downward spiral of destruction. I couldn't deal, so Damon, using the sire bond, had me turn off my emotions, figuring that he could control me until he had me turn them back on.

"Unfortunately, it didn't work out that way," she said with a short laugh. "Funny thing about vampire sire bonds? It's created by emotions, so turning them off is pretty much what breaks them. And I was left to run wild, emotionless, not caring about anything or anyone, leaving everyone around me to deal with the fallout. I was buried deep in there, no matter what anyone did or say to pull me out.

"Meanwhile, Silas was loose; he had woken up and Katherine had stolen the cure, so he went to Bonnie, using you to manipulate her, and she agreed to work with him to bring down the wall of the Other Side. She killed all kinds of people in order to create the Triangle that was needed to bring it down. But she didn't realize what she was doing until he released her from the spell he had her under. By then, the damage had already been done. The wall was down and every single vampire, witch, werewolf, and supernatural being that had ever been killed was released. Including you," she said softly, laying her hand on her brother's hand. "That was the only good thing that happened from all of this. You came back and you managed to turn my emotions back on. You brought me back," she told him gently.

"But there were consequences," she said grimly. "There were vampires that sought revenge against us, werewolves, hybrids . . . all of them. The entire world was in peril and there was only one way that we could stop it."

"To send you back," Jeremy completely.

Elena nodded. "It was a very dangerous spell. Bonnie used the last of her magic to do it and it still took a combination of witches for them to pull it off," she sighed, running her hand through her dark hair. "But it worked; they sent me back to the very moment that I needed to change. What you saw in that cave, when my future self and past self kind of collided? That was because the future had changed; because it was changed in such a way, it merged my two selves and they became one. I still have the memories of the other future," she explained, tapping her brain, "but that future's gone. It's changed."

She took a deep breath, watching her brother carefully; he wasn't looking at her, but staring at the wall opposite, trying to work through all of this. Elena gave him a full ten minutes before she moved closer to him, wrapping her arms around him.

"Jeremy, are you okay?"

"Yeah," he said softly, brown eyes wide. "Yeah . . . yeah, I'm okay. It's just . . . it's a lot to take in."

"Trust me, I know," she said with a small sigh. "I'm just so glad that I got you back; I lost you twice and I don't think I could stand losing you again." She laid her head against her brother's, relishing of having him back in her arms again; he was the only thing that she had left in her life and she didn't want to lose him, never again. "Jer, there's something else that we need to talk about."

"What you just told me isn't enough?"

"I know, I'm sorry," Elena apologized. "But we need to get out of here."

He looked at her quickly. "What do you mean?"

She reached into her back pocket, feeling for the vial of blood that was lying in there, pulling it out and showed it to him.

Jeremy stared down at it, then looked up at her, and then back down. Slowly, he reached out and took the vial, inspecting it carefully with wide eyes.

"This isn't . . ." he began, not tearing his gaze from it. "This is . . . no way, this is . . . it's not . . . is it?"

"Yeah," Elena agreed, taking it back. "This is the cure; the one from the future. Bonnie gave it to me right before I left; she knew what I was planning after I fixed everything and she agreed with me. Jer," she said quietly, "if I take this, then I'll be human again."

"But that was the whole point . . ."

"I know, but look at where we live!" she exclaimed, gesturing around him. "We live at Vampire Central and half the people that we are connected with are vampires. Sure, they would rather me stay human, but so long as we are around them, then the chances of my becoming a vampire again are pretty high. We both know that."

Jeremy glanced at the cure again, then up at her, realization dawning on him. "You mean, you want to leave here for good."

"It's more than that," Elena said, squeezing his hand. "Jeremy, I want to leave here in a way that nobody will follow us. I want us to get out of this life that we somehow got sucked into after Mom and Dad died. They wouldn't want this for us and I don't want it either. I've seen the future and I don't like how it ended. And I honestly believe that if we stay here, it's only going to end up the same way for us. I'll be a vampire again, maybe both of us, and this time, there will be no cure. It'll be wasted. So I say that we get out, we skip town, and we make sure that they can't follow."

"How?"

"We burn down the house," Elena told him. His head shot up. "And we leave here tonight, before they think something's up. We take as few belongings as possible, so nobody will think anything's missing, and we get as far away from here as possible." She paused, watching her brother. "Jeremy, if you don't want to go . . . if you don't want to do this . . . I'll stay a vampire and hide the cure. I know that you don't want to leave Bonnie . . ."

"No," Jeremy interrupted. He looked sad. "She doesn't care about me in that way anymore. I still love her, but . . . I know we're not meant to be together." He sighed, bowing his head and wrapping his arms around his shoulders. "What I said last year . . . I still have you. But I want the human you." He paused. "Let's do it."

Elena looked at him. "Are you sure? Once we leave . . . there's no going back."

"I'm sure," he said firmly.

With one look at him, Elena nodded, shifting her position as she popped open the top to the vial.

"Okay," she said shakily, raising the vial to her lips. "Bottom's up."

She swallowed the contents and promptly passed out.

AN: Okay, guys for the record, I started this story precisely after this episode, so a lot of what actually happened after this is changed. I think you'll notice the changes between my history and what really happened on the show. Anyhow, I hope it made sense and hope you enjoyed it. Please review!

Lady Dawson


	2. Into the Flames

**Rewriting Destiny**

by Lady Dawson

Chapter Two: Into the Flames

"Lena! Elena!"

She could feel someone shaking her, their voice panicked, but she couldn't quite place who it belonged to. Everything was flooding together in a mess inside her head, jumbled together so none of it made any sense. Her entire being was being reassembled, changed to something that she had been before. Pieces of herself that she had lost were being strung together and stripping away the darker parts of herself as though they had never existed.

Her eyelids fluttered and she moaned as everything fell into place, opening her eyes to take in her surroundings, wondering why everything felt so strange, looked so strange . . . even _she_ felt so strange.

The lights were dimmer than they'd been before . . . the air was less sharp, less fragrant than it had been . . . and she felt weaker, almost, than she'd been a moment before. It took her a full minute to remember what had happened.

"Elena?" She turned to find Jeremy sitting on the bed next to her, his brown eyes wide and frantic, pale as a ghost. "Are you okay?"

"Jeremy . . ." she croaked, pushing herself into a sitting position. He helped her, handing her a glass of water as she brushed her dark hair out of her eyes. Gratefully, she guzzled it down, marveling at the simple taste. It felt so long since she had drank anything . . . well, anything other than _blood_ . . .

Her brother watched her with worried eyes. "How do you feel?"

"_Alive_," she said honestly, realizing just how true that statement was. She could feel the gentle flutter of her heart, felt warmer than she had in months, and even though she was definitely weaker without the benefits of being a vampire, she was _happier_ than she'd been in a very long time. "And hungry," she added upon reflection. Jeremy looked alarmed. "For food," she amended. "I'd kill for a burger and fries."

Breaking into a wide grin that spread across his face, Jeremy laughed freely—for the first time that she could remember in a very long time, Elena realized; she'd forgotten how much she missed his laugh—grabbing her wrist to feel her pulse. If it were possible, his smile spread further when he felt the beat underneath her skin.

"You're alive!" he said, joy radiating across his face. "Elena, you're _human_!"

"I know!" She laughed, wrapping her arms around her brother, relieved beyond belief to actually be anywhere near him without the threat of hurting him, either by her bloodlust or superior strength. Or him wanting to hurt her, she thought, though he wasn't a hunter anymore, not since they left the island. His tattoos had vanished and with them, his vampire hunter abilities. "Oh, my gods, Jer, it worked! I can't believe it! Jeremy, it worked!"

They held each other for a full minute before the implications of what had just happened fell upon both of them and as Jeremy pulled away, awareness was written in his eyes of what they needed to do without Elena saying it.

"So where are we going?"

"I don't know," Elena confessed. Jeremy stared at her, amusement rising through his face. "I hadn't planned much further than this." He snorted. "One thing's for sure, though, Jer; there can't be any reason for anyone to follow us. So pack one bag; take anything you want, but not enough so anyone will suspect anything's missing. We can't give them any reason to think we're alive."

Jeremy nodded, but what they were about to do was starting to dawn on him as he looked around his bedroom.

"That's okay," he said finally. "There's not much I want to take; there's too many memories with this place."

Elena hugged him again. "I know, Jer. And I am _so_ sorry that I got you involved in any of this to begin with. Everything that happened . . . I'm to blame for it, I know. The moment I found out what Stefan was, I should've gone running in the other direction. If I had, none of this would have happened. Jenna . . . John . . . Alaric . . . so many people would still be alive if I had."

"You're not to blame," Jeremy insisted, returning the hug. "You fell in love, Elena; there's nothing wrong with that."

"Hopefully, the next guy I have will actually be human," Elena muttered. Both of them laughed weakly, but it was much needed. "One bag, Jer, and any money you've got; we can't take the car, for obvious reasons."

"Right," Jeremy agreed with a nod. "One bag . . ."

Getting up, Elena went to her own room, pulling out a duffle bag from her closet to throw in some clothes and a leather jacket she couldn't live without, plus a few pictures of her family. She debated whether or not to pack her journals, but decided to let them burn; she was leaving her past behind. Once she left here, there would be no coming back.

Adding a few knickknacks from around the room, Elena grabbed the bundle of money that she had in her sock drawer, in case of an emergency. Well, she thought, this definitely qualified as an emergency.

By the time that she got back to her brother's room, her duffle slung over her shoulder, he already had his own backpack stuffed with clothes, along with his art supplies. Elena couldn't help but smile at the sight, squeezing his shoulder; she was actually glad to see him taking an interest in his art again. Other than that brief return after Damon compelled him to forget about Vicki, she couldn't remember the last time he had picked up his sketchbook. It was nice to see it again.

"Are you ready for this?" she asked. He nodded once.

"Yeah," he replied without hesitation. "Honestly, I can't say I'll be sorry to say goodbye to this place."

Elena couldn't blame him; there were too many dark memories of this house and of this town, too many people they had buried, and too many people that they cared about who were now among the undead. They couldn't save the people they lost, but they could change their own futures.

For better or for worse, their destinies were being rewritten.

Briefly, she remembered what Future Bonnie had told her, right before Elena had left the alternate future. _"I don't know where that road will lead, Elena, but I do know that wherever it goes, it will lead you to a man in green. He is your destiny and you are his."_

Shivering slightly as she pushed those thoughts out of her head, Elena handed her duffle over to Jeremy. "Go downstairs, I'll be right down. We're leaving now."

He nodded, doing as he was told, and she ran to the attic, rummaging through Alaric's old things until she found a can of gasoline that she knew was there, dragging it down the steps and dumping it across the floor, leading out into the hallway and down the stairs. Jeremy went to help her as she dragged it into the kitchen, making sure they covered every inch of the house before dropping the gasoline and grabbing a set of matches.

"You're sure about this?" Elena asked, holding up an unlit match. "Once we leave here, there's no going back."

"I know," he assured her. "Believe me, I know and there's nothing left here I want to stay for. Let's get out of here while we still can."

Nodding once, Elena struck the match and let it fall. The match struck the gasoline and it began to spread, going in every direction until every inch of the house was on fire, turning everything to ashes.

* * *

Her breath heaving frantically as she raced through Mystic Falls, blonde hair streaming out behind her, Caroline Forbes finally reached the Salvatore Boarding House, her chest rising and falling with every sharp breath that she took. Every fiber of her being was trembling as she ran up to it, breaking through the door without even bothering to knock.

Both of the brothers were in the sitting room when she got there, deep in discussion, but they looked around at her as she came in.

Stefan, seeing her expression, immediately stood up and went to her, his eyes deeply concerned. "Caroline, what's wrong?"

"Elena," she whispered and he froze. Behind them, Damon too stood up, ice-blue eyes narrowed slightly with anxiety. "And Jeremy . . . oh, god, they're both . . ." Her hand went to her mouth and she was shaking ever so slightly.

"What about them?" Stefan demanded, gripping her shoulders tightly. His face was slightly pale. "Caroline, what happened to Elena and Jeremy?"

Caroline swallowed, not wanting to break the news to them, but knowing she had to. They would find out soon enough anyway.

"There was a gasoline leak or something at their house," she whispered, lip trembling as she lifted her tearstained face to him. "It caught fire . . . Stefan, they're dead."

No one moved. No one even breathed.

Finally, someone broke the silence, but it was Damon, rather than Stefan.

"Are you sure?"

Nodding briefly, Caroline whispered, "My mom was there; she confirmed it. There was no way that anyone could have made it out."

"But they could have been somewhere else . . . maybe they just weren't home . . ." Stefan whispered, anguish written on his face.

Caroline shook her head, her shoulders shaking. "Do you think that I'd be here, telling you this, if I wasn't one hundred percent sure? They're gone, Stefan . . . they're dead."

It was too hard to process, too hard to comprehend; Elena, who had been her best friend for longer than she could remember, was gone. And Jeremy . . . after everything he'd gone through this year, with his sister becoming a vampire and him becoming a hunter . . . it was all taken away from him.

She couldn't believe that it was happening, she really couldn't; after everything that had happened over the past few days, it was altogether too surreal. Elena had opted for eternal life instead of taking the cure to prevent something worse from escaping, only for that eternity to be cut tragically short.

"There's got to be something we can do," Stefan whispered, shaking his head in protest. "Maybe Bonnie . . ."

"No." Everyone turned to Damon, whose expression had gone very hard. "There are consequences for bringing someone back from the dead; we saw that when she brought Jeremy back. I'm not willing to take the risk of something worse happening."

"And Elena wouldn't want it," Caroline admitted. "Just yesterday, she gave up any chance at regaining her humanity because she didn't want to let something dangerous on the world. If she had the choice . . ."

Stefan bowed his head, turning away from them. She wasn't wrong; he knew that. They all knew that. But it was altogether too unbelievable that Elena—warm, caring, incredible Elena—could be gone forever. It was impossible and he knew he wouldn't believe it until he saw it with his own eyes.

Striding past Caroline, he sped through Mystic Falls, stopping only a short distance from the Gilbert house, but even before he got within a block of it, he could smell the smoke, saw it rising in the distance.

He swallowed, moving closer, where a crowd had already formed around the police tape, blocking off what was left of Elena's home.

Stefan stopped dead in his tracks, staring at what was left; the barest foundation was all that was left of the once proud home. Everything—and everyone—that had been in that home had burned to the ground.

There was nothing left.

Sheriff Forbes saw him standing there, staring at the remains; a flicker of sympathy crossed her face, but she just shook her head at him, silently telling him that there was no way that anyone had survived.

Closing his eyes, he turned away and started walking.

And walking.

And walking.

And leaving Mystic Falls behind.

* * *

Elena and Jeremy Gilbert were declared dead on February 14th, 2013. Their friends mourned the loss of their friends. Soon after Stefan departed, Damon left too, their whereabouts unknown.

Caroline remained until her graduation, but eventually, she left too, first for college and then onward.

Bonnie was the only one who remained, to continue to protect the people of Mystic Falls from those that threatened them.

With the death of the doppelganger and with no chance of her having any offspring that could result in another, Klaus left too, heading for New Orleans, where his story would continue. Rebekah would embark on her own journey, heading for Europe and beyond.

None of them had the slightest inkling that no one had actually died in the fire.

While Elena and Jeremy Gilbert _had _been lost in the fire, their identities burned with their former life, no one had died in the Gilbert house. They had fled, shredding their former lives in order to escape the darkness that had nearly destroyed them. But as they would soon learn, escaping the world of vampires did not guarantee that they would escape to normalcy.

Especially when the town they settled in was also known as the meteor capital of the world.


End file.
